Abstract: Antenna diversity integrated circuit having two or more RF input connections for connecting an antenna (1a, 1b, 1c). A low noise amplifier circuit is present having a first stage (7a, 7b, 7c) for each one of the two or more RF input connections and a single second stage (8). Output connections of each of the first stages (7a, 7b, 7c) are combined in a single summing node to which an inductor (L) and an input connection of the second stage (8) are connected. During operation one of the two or more first stages (7a, 7b, 7c) is activated to provide an input signal to the second stage (8).

Abstract: Disclosed is a transceiver including a sub-sampling based frequency synthesizer with a sampling frequency fsmp, configured to generate M different output signals 3 for use as a carrier signal for transmission and/or a signal with a channel frequency for reception. M is an integer greater than 4, each output signal has a corresponding predefined frequency. The predefined frequencies are within a frequency band with a predefined bandwidth CFR. CFR is greater than fsmp. The frequency synthesizer includes a frequency shift unit configured for shifting a version of the output signal over a predefined frequency shift fshift to obtain a frequency shifted signal which is supplied to a sampling unit of the sub-sampling based frequency synthesizer, wherein ?fsmp/2?fshift?+fsmp/2. The frequency shift unit is configured to use for the generation of each of the N different output signals a corresponding predefined frequency shift fshift.

Abstract: The invention relates to a communication device (2) comprising an antenna system (4) provided with at least one antenna (6a, 6b, 6c) for receiving a radio signal and supplying a received radio signal to an output (8) of the antenna system, a low noise amplifier (10) for amplification of the received radio signal to obtain an amplified radio signal, and a processing unit (12) for processing the amplified radio signal. The antenna system (4) is configured to supply in a first state a first antenna signal as the received radio signal and in a second state second antenna signal as the received radio signal, wherein the first antenna signal and second antenna signal differ in amplitude. The antenna system is further configured to switch from state in response to a control signal (14) generated by the processing unit (12).

Abstract: Biasing circuit for providing a supply voltage (Vdd) for an inverter based circuit. The biasing circuit is provided on a same die as the inverter based circuit, and includes a first shorted inverter circuit (T1, T2) and a second shorted inverter circuit (T3, T4). The first shorted inverter circuit (T1, T2) is connected in parallel to a series configuration of the second shorted inverter circuit (T3, T4) and a reference impedance (R). The first shorted inverter circuit (T1, T2) and second shorted inverter circuit (T3, T4) have different transistor geometries. A control circuit (T5-T11) is connected to the first shorted inverter circuit (T1, T2) and the second shorted inverter circuit (T3, T4), and supplied with a main supply voltage (Vdd). The control circuit (T5-T11) is arranged such that an equal current flows through the first shorted inverter circuit (T1, T2) and second shorted inverter circuit (T3, T4).

Abstract: An Encryption processor is disclosed comprising an S-box unit, a byte permutation unit, a MixColumns unit and a key expansion unit. In an embodiment the byte permutation unit comprises a data input terminal for receiving input data, two or more row processors, each row processor having an input coupled to the input terminal and an output, and a clock gating circuit for generating for each of the two or more row processors a gated clock signal. Furthermore, a clock gated key expansion unit is disclosed. By clock gating, the power consumption of the processor is reduced which extends the battery life time in battery powered devices.

Abstract: A receiver and method for determining a characteristic from an input signal is disclosed. A characteristic is at least one selected from a group comprising preamble detect, frequency offset and timing offset. The input signal comprises an IF frequency fIF and a preamble signal which is a sequence of M similar data symbols. The data symbols have a symbol period SP, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 2. The method comprises: —receiving N subsequent samples of the input signal, the N subsequent samples representing a part of the input signal approximating the symbol period SP, —rotating N subsequent samples to obtain N rotated symbols; —correlating the N rotated symbols with P correlation functions to generate a set of N×P correlation values, P being an integer greater than or equal to 2; and, —selecting a maximum correlation value from the set of N×P correlation values and determining the characteristic.

Abstract: A communication protocol based on CSMA between a node, in particular an electronic label, and a network coordinator is disclosed. The node comprises:—a transceiver provided for communication with a network coordinator, wherein the transceiver handles a transmission channel based on CSMA;—a processing unit provided for processing data received via the transmission channel and displaying the data on a display unit. The electronic label is arranged to perform:—sending recurrently a data request packet;—going to a low power mode after sending the data request packet; and—waking-up for receiving a data response packet a predefined time interval after beginning sending the data request packet. The network coordinator is arranged to transmit the data response packet the predefined time interval after receiving the beginning of the data request packet.

Abstract: A receiver and method for receiving symbols having a symbol period with duration SP comprising. N antenna signals are selected equally in time over a symbol period to obtain a combined antenna signal. An autocorrelation is performed on the combined antenna signal to obtain a combined signal. The combined signal is split into the corresponding antenna signal parts and subjected to an integration function. The output of the integration function is used the select the antenna signal with the best signal quality. The invention enables to perform an efficient antenna diversity circuit, which can partially be used for simultaneously preamble detection and frequency offset estimation.